


Real friends are always there

by IcyPassions



Series: Vignettes [4]
Category: Formula 1 RPF, Motorcycling RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Caring Carlos, Cooking, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Light Angst, Really fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24125395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcyPassions/pseuds/IcyPassions
Summary: Lando misses out on the opportunity to race Valentino Rossi online with Alex and George and he's horribly heartbroken.Carlos decides to come over and sort that out with some mastery in the kitchen and a few text messages.
Relationships: Lando Norris & Carlos Sainz Jr
Series: Vignettes [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1650694
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	Real friends are always there

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I have nothing against Italians, any Italian slander is what I'm imagining Lando and the gang's thoughts to be within the context of this work.
> 
> This is based heavily on the happenings a few days ago where Lando couldn't join the ACC race with Vale in it.
> 
> This work is entirely of fiction. Please don't share it outside of fanfiction circles!

“Guys, help me! How long is left before the race?!” Lando tried to shout over the frantic Italian mob in Discord. He hoped maybe George or Alex would hear him, but they seemed to be preoccupied as well, cracking jokes with each other on their own streams.

When Lando had heard Valentino Rossi was going to be in the Assetto Corsa race, he could hardly believe it. Being a big fan of Vale, he just couldn’t possibly pass up the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with him on the virtual track. Trouble was, the brit’s WiFi connection on his PC had been troubling him a lot in the recent days and he needed to hope for a miracle to make it to the race.

The miracle never came, so Lando had been stuck fiddling with his router for the longest time before it started to work, and now the game wasn’t letting him join the session. As each second ticked by, his heart sank lower and lower, finger mashing the mouse button to try and join the session, but the game kept giving errors.

“Alright, we’re going Alex!” he heard George say. “Be careful on the start, cold tires!”

“Yeah, I know!”

Tears started to rise into his eyes as he realized it was too late, and he wouldn’t be able to race his idol like he’d always wanted. Valentino might not even simrace again, he thought. He might not like it enough and Lando would never get another chance.

Lando disconnected from the Discord call and shut off his stream so no one could watch him draw his legs up on the chair, rest his head down on his knees, and silently cry his sorrows away.

If not for all those stupid, noisy Italians, someone could have heard him and stopped the session to make sure he joined. If not for them, he could be racing his MotoGP idol right now, going side-by-side into Misano’s tricky corners. And surely George and Alex heard him, they had to have! He was really yelling at the end, it was the only way not to be drowned in _Grazie Ragazzi_. Maybe they did, and they just ignored him, since they were in the session and that’s all that mattered. They were having an absolute cracker of a time racing Valentino and Charles and all the rest. Lando didn’t matter, his PC was always “bwoken” anyway, so it’s not like he would care or anything…

They hadn’t even said a word to him, or a word about him, or anything to Charles or the rest to try and stop the race to let Lando in. Some real friends they were. More hot tears kept spilling out. How could he be so stupid to trust his friends with something like that? Lando would always be the sidekick, the punchline, brought forward when needed and dumped off when they were finished with him. He’d helped them set up their sims and their Steam accounts and all their games and their streams, but now that the work was done, they didn’t need him anymore. Did they even remember he was a Rossi fan? Was sporting a bright green “The Doctor” bucket hat last season not enough of an indication? Or did they just ignore that too?

_They’re just using you._

Lando cried louder, drawing sharp breaths. He stayed curled up on his chair a long time, hoping someone would poke their head in the door and give him a kiss on his head. His head kept spinning, full of thoughts about his happy memories with George and Alex now feeling invalid and fake.

He eventually drained himself of tears and energy. His chat was upset with all the Italians too, he could see that before he put down the stream. But chat couldn’t give him a hug or make him some food.

His watery eyes drifted up to the clock, reading way past his normal bedtime. Lando pried himself from the chair with all his strength, trudged to his bedroom, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

~~

Carlos had been watching his teammate’s stream on his phone as he cooked his dinner, and as the brit struggled with the game and became more and more frantic about it the Spaniard felt terrible for Lando. He knew how much of a fan of Vale his teammate was, and he had missed the opportunity to race him. The stream abruptly cut off, and that only meant one thing: Lando would be in shambles. He always said goodbye to his chat after a stream, no matter how tough his race was or how often he missed shots in Rocket League or Call of Duty.

Instantly, Carlos knew what he had to do. He would go to Lando’s house early tomorrow morning and comfort him, make him breakfast and just be there for his friend. If George and Alex wouldn’t take care of him, he would gladly do it. Lando had told him where the spare house key was, because he trusted Carlos with it in case he was ever in trouble.

Another idea suddenly popped into his head. He went on his phone again and tapped the contacts app, scrolling down into the V section. He found Valentino’s name, which made him smile as he could carry out his special surprise for Lando. He tapped on the Message icon and sent the Italian a text.

_**Carlos:** Hi Vale, I know it is late but could you do a favor?_

He knew Vale was still racing, so he stowed his phone back in his pocket and completed the preparation of his meal, excited to make Lando happy tomorrow.

~~

The next morning, Lando woke slowly, still drained from the previous night despite sleeping straight through. His eyes were almost glued shut from the crust of dried tears, so he wiped his fingers along his eyelids to clear them. In the middle of that his nose woke and he began to smell food. “Fuck, I left food in the oven!” he scolded to himself as his eyes shot open and he practically leapt out of bed, flew down the stairs, turned the corner and saw… Carlos behind the stove.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief and sat down on the bottom step, which alerted his teammate to his presence. Carlos spun 180 on his heels and greeted Lando with a big smile. “Good morning, Lando! I have made you a good breakfast. I hope you don’t mind gaining a little weight.”

Lando’s brain was fried, and he sputtered trying to form a coherent response. “Uh, yeah I guess it’s fine. Why are you doing this, though?” he questioned, running his hand through his messy hair.

“Well, because I am a good friend!” Carlos lofted.

Lando continued staring at his feet as he sat, trying to kick his brain into gear. After a moment, he put two and two together. “Did you watch my stream last night?”

His teammate answered “Yes, I did cabron!” without hesitation and brimming with confidence.

It suddenly dawned on Lando that Carlos had woken up very early, driven to his house, and made him what looked like a very delicious breakfast just because he had missed out on racing with Valentino. He really was too good for Lando. Alex and George would never have done something like this, but the gentle Spaniard instantly had thought of making Lando happy and he even knew Lando well enough to know the brit’s reaction to such a disappointment would be terrible.

Suddenly overcome by the emotion of feeling so loved and cared about, Lando couldn’t help but bury his face in his hands and cry happy tears. “Carlos you’re so amazing…” he managed to mutter.

Carlos took notice and walked over to Lando and sat down next to him. “Come” was all he said, and Lando dropped his head onto his teammate’s shoulder, nestling in and wrapping his arms around him. Carlos wrapped his own arms around the younger and rested his own head on top of his. He rubbed his hand up and down Lando’s back as they sat cuddled up at the bottom of the stairs.

A muffled “Thank you, Carlos” escaped from Lando’s mouth into Carlos’s shirt.

“No need to thank me. You deserve to be happy. But um, do you mind if I go flip the pancakes? I do not want them to burn.”

Lando giggled, a precious song to Carlos’s ears. “Yeah, I like my pancakes unburnt.”

~~

After they had finished eating their very hearty breakfast over happy conversation, they set their plates in the sink and turned to each other.

“Ok, I have one more surprise for you today, Lando.” Carlos teased, his goofy grin returning.

Lando shook his head, clearly flustered, but still wearing his own smile. “What else could you possibly have done?” he interrogated.

“Show me to your simulator room” Carlos returned.

His teammate produced a quizzical look, but motioned Carlos to follow him upstairs.

Once they had both stepped inside, Lando tried “So, ummmmm… what is it?”

“Go look at your computer screen.” Carlos returned confidently.

Even more confused, Lando did as he was asked and sat down in his sim seat. On the screen was a notification for a new Steam message.

“Open it.” Carlos could hardly contain his excitement as he knelt down beside Lando.

Lando did so and read it aloud.

**_From: VR46_ **  
**_To: L4NDO NORRIS_ **

_Hi mate, I’m sorry you did not get to race me last night. I have nothing to do today so I would love to race you one on one in Assetto Corsa, and then maybe MotoGP ;) Message me when you are ready!_

_Vale_

Lando instantly turned to Carlos and wrapped his arms around him, squeezing him as hard as he could. All of the sorrow of the previous evening had completely vanished. “Oh my god, Carlos I can’t believe you!” he exclaimed, earning a laugh from his teammate. They fell to the floor, Lando burying himself in Carlos’s chest, unable to remember the last time he was this happy or the last time someone cared so very much about him.

“I think you should message him back, mate.”

“Yeah, I will. After I’m done thanking you. Thank you so much, Carlos. You’re actually the best person I’ve ever known. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

“No paying required, cabron. Just enjoy your day, ok?”

“I will. I really will.” Lando grinned ear to ear as he sat up and grabbed his keyboard to respond to Vale.

~~

Lando raced Vale all day it seemed, battling hard and laughing harder when one of them got pinged off the track in the frenzy. Finally, Vale decided to call it quits that evening, saying his goodbyes to Lando and Lando thanking him profusely for dedicating his entire day to the Brit. “No worries, mate. I would love to do it again!” he replied over Discord chat. They both disconnected and Lando shut off his stream with a goodbye to chat. Lando relaxed back in his chair, wearing a grin of pure happiness he hadn’t felt in a very long time. He felt like he was floating, suspended by the softness of the love from his teammate had shown him that day.

The Yankee-donned brunette glanced over his Discord one more time before shutting his PC off and noticed he had gotten direct messages while he was racing. He clicked on it and revealed messages from Alex and George in the same direct chat room.

_**Albono:** Lando, we’re rlly sorry for not getting you into the race yesterday. I promise we really didn’t hear you and we wanted you in there_

_**GR63:** Alex, that’s not what the story was, we did hear him but he couldn’t hear us back over the grazie ragazzi_

_**Albono:** I didn’t know we rehearsed a story mr PR_

_**GR63:** We didn’t but I thought you’d say what I did_

_Anyway Lando we really wanted you to race with us, promise. Next time we’ll go to our own voice chat. Sound good?_

Lando just shook his head and laughed at his friends in shambles over their apology. He understood they truly meant it, though, and typed back a reply.

_**LN4:** Thanks guys, yeah that sounds good. I got to race with Vale all day today so it’s ok :)_

_**Albono:** Lucky bastard_

_**GR63:** yeah what he said_

Lando felt ashamed of how his brain had gotten carried away thinking his friends didn’t care. He had practically grown up with them and their bond was too strong to break. He was glad they had come forward to resolve it, in any case, and shut off his PC satisfied with the outcome and with his incredible day.

As he laid in bed waiting to fall asleep, he shut his eyes and replayed the memories of the day, first Carlos and his delicious breakfast and his loving heart, knowing exactly what Lando needed, then racing around Misano and Paul Ricard and Kylami with Vale, and all their silly moments that chat loved too. It really had been a perfect day.

He drifted off replaying a lap of Paul Ricard in his head, going up through the gears of his 720s down the Mistral Straight.


End file.
